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Oh When The Saints Go Marching In

In Mallorca, there are saints and village fêtes dedicated to them, all through the year. Somehow, though, it seems that in July there is an even bigger concentration of saints’ days than usual. Yesterday, most island harbour towns celebrated the day of Mare de Déu del Carme (Virgin Carmen, the patron saint of fishermen), parading the saint’s statue by boat out into the sea and back. Next week, Santa Margalida will be celebrated (July 20th), and Sant Jaume (July 25th) and Santa Catalina Tomàs (July 28th), the latter one being Mallorca’s only very own saint, La Beata from Valldemossa. A lesser known saint, Santa Praxedis, has her big day on Thursday (July 21st), and the pueblo of Petra in the centre of the island will be celebrating the Festes de Santa Praxedis. Or already is celebrating, I should say. Festivities started last week and will continue until the saint’s day. Today, the Festa de Ses Clovelles will start at 12h00 sharp centering around a mock protest staged by the village youths against the town hall involving the throwing of almond shells (see photo). A generous amount of alcoholic beverages will also play a role. As it’s a full moon night later today, let’s hope no-one gets carried away with the booze. At 16h00, there will be a clay pigeon shoot-out, except that the clay pigeons will be real live guàtleres (Common quails). Points gained at the competition today will count towards the Campionat de Balears championship. One or the other activity might be seen as fun, depending on your own level of sensitivity. A programme leaflet can be downloaded from the Ajuntament de Petra website as a PDF format.

The photo was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of diariodemallorca.es and the photographer, S. Sansó.

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